Jack Levison Meets the Pope
Last spring was eventful and travel-filled for Jack Levison, W. J. A. Power Professor of Old Testament Interpretation and Biblical Hebrew.
On April 3, Levison lectured at the University of Bern as part of a series of public guest lectures incorporated in a course on the Theology of the New Testament.
Entitled “Filled with the Spirit: From the Old Testament to the New,” the lecture offered a unified perspective on how the Holy Spirit is viewed as the source of inspiration in interpreting scripture.
Later in the month, Levison traveled to Rome to meet with the Rev. Andrea Ciucci and Dr. Nunziata Comoretto, of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life. Levison made this trip from Munich, where he was doing research, because he is co-editing a book on palliative care. “The people at the Vatican wanted to talk to me about their role in this book, which includes essays from an array of international experts,” Levison said.
The book is based upon a Spirituality for Life Conference held in Houston in September 2018. The ecumenical conference, sponsored by the Vatican, Houston Methodist Hospital and MD Anderson Cancer Center, brought together palliative care and spiritual leaders to explore ways to integrate spirituality into palliative clinical practice. Robert L. Fine, MD, Clinical Director, Office of Clinical Ethics and Palliative Care at Baylor Scott and White Health in Dallas, is Levison’s co-editor.
During his visit, Vatican officials invited Levison to join an audience with the Pope, an experience he found moving and eye-opening. “It’s absolutely remarkable in our day and age, in a time of such harshness and divisiveness, to witness the humility Pope Francis embodies,” he said. “I was so moved by the atmosphere of peace and respect in the room.”
Levison notes that he’s the second person in his family to meet the pope. His spouse, Priscilla Pope-Levison, Perkins’ associate dean for external programs and professor of ministerial studies, met Pope Francis at the Vatican in October 2017.
With the recent publication of his new book, The Holy Spirit before Christianity (Baylor, 2019), Levison’s fall schedule includes an October 6 author event at Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas and a weekend speaking engagement (October 12-13) at First United Methodist Church Missouri City, Texas, a suburb of Houston.
McKenzie at North Georgia Conference
Dr. Alyce McKenzie recently served as a consultant for the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church in a retreat center in Peachtree City, Georgia, in August.
Her visit began with a daylong workshop on “Marks of Effective Sermons Across Cultures” with clergy and lay members of the conference’s Board of Ordained Ministry, to help board members in their evaluation of candidates’ sermons.
Next, she led a two-day workshop with the first- and second-year Residents in Ministry focused on the subjects of “Best Practices for Memorable Sermons” and “Making a Scene in the Pulpit: Vivid Preaching for Visual Listeners.”
Dr. McKenzie also preached at the closing worship service, led by the Residents in Ministry, on Romans 10:14-17, with the title “Somebody’s Calling!”
Robert Hunt on Podcast
Robert Hunt was recently interviewed for two episodes of the podcast Good God: Conversations with George Mason About Faith and Public Life. In Episode 70, Hunt weighed in on the cultural implications of the United Methodist decision to adhere to traditionalist views of marriage practices. In Episode 73, he talked about evangelism in a pluralistic world: How can Christians engage in relationships with people of other faiths or no faith and still offer what we believe is a life of beauty and truth? Listen to Episode 70 of the podcast at https://goodgodproject.com/podcast/episode70 and Episode 73 at https://goodgodproject.com/podcast/episode73
Ted Campbell Quoted in WaPo Story
Confederate monuments have been the center of controversy in recent years in Charlottesville, Va. Now they’re the subject of Bible studies in two United Methodist churches there that “reinterpret the statues as idols meant to prop up the false religion of white supremacy.” Read the story, including a quote from Ted Campbell, Professor of Church History, here.